‘And there’s no record of a Triple 0 call because…?’

‘Because I couldn’t bloody get through. The lines were busy. I watched smoke through the window.’

‘And you continued trying to call Triple 0?’

‘I was terrified. Sean was in his wheelchair, my car wouldn’t start, the only person I’d seen in ages was that weirdo…’

Caleb froze. That weirdo.

‘The fire built and built. The wind got worse, and the smoke. My brother finally arrived. I got Sean out quick as I could.’ Rosie gulped from a glass of water and glared at Caleb. He tried to shrink.

‘A couple of quick questions, Mrs Henderson,’ Douglas said, crossing. ‘You called Caleb a weirdo. Can you please elaborate.’

‘Elabor— what?’

Douglas smirked. Caleb hated that. Rosie was Sean’s mother and deserved respect.

Nina Haynes spoke. ‘The learned counsellor wants you to go into more detail.’

‘Well, Caleb is a weirdo. He’s cleaned up but you seen them old pictures. Scary black clothing. Greasy hair. He had his lip pierced.’

Where was Douglas going with this? ‘You’d agree you had a negative opinion of my client even before the fire?’

Rosie crossed her arms and stuck her chest out. ‘Of course I had an opinion after what he done. Every time I start explaining, I get inter—’

‘All right, Mrs Henderson. We’ve established that you were suspicious of Caleb. It wasn’t anything he did that day that made you wary. You also said you used binoculars to watch him. Caleb is a young man, Mrs Henderson. You’re in the habit of watching him?’

‘I am.’ Rosie gave Caleb a dirty look. ‘Ever since—’

The magistrate tapped her desk. ‘Mrs Henderson, be careful what you say.’

Rosie looked dissatisfied. ‘I don’t trust him.’

Nina Haynes decided. ‘The court has to accept that you had the binoculars, for whatever reason, and that on this occasion you put them to use.’

Rosie nodded. ‘And saw him riding away from the smoke.’

‘That’s it?’ Douglas stepped closer.

Rosie nodded.

‘You saw Caleb riding away? You didn’t see him actually light flames?’

‘Well, he was at the fossicker’s hut.’

‘The defence accepts that he was there. You often watched him there. It wasn’t strange for him to be there. And that day, you saw him doing nothing suspicious. Just riding away.’

‘There was smoke.’

‘It seems a normal reaction. To flee smoke.’

‘I want to know why he was—’

‘That’s all, Mrs Henderson. Thank you.’

Rosie stood. She hadn’t finished. ‘I know what he done.’ She poked the timber witness box with each word. ‘And he couldn’t of did it… if he was punished properly for what he done before.’

Rosie hated him. Caleb knew he deserved it.